Call for Bail

Greg reached for his buzzing phone. He saved the file on his computer and glanced at the tiny screen. “What does he want?”

Greg slid his thumb over the answer button. “What?”

“Look,” the voice on the phone said. “I’m the last person you wanted to hear from. I get it.”

“Not really,” Greg said. “I don’t want to hear from Amanda, and you are the next to the last person I want to hear from, Tom.” He chuckled.

“I figured you knew my other name,” Tom said. “I need a favor.”

“A favor?” Greg rocked back in his chair and laughed. “That’s rich. The amazing Challenger needs a favor from me.” He glanced around the cube farm, ensuring no one was paying attention to his conversation. “Tumult.”

“Yeah,” Tom answered. “You owe me.”

“What?”

“You heard me,” Tom said. “You owe me. From the last time, the World Police raided your group, Onyx.”

“Yeah, right,” Greg hissed into his phone. “If I was a part of this organization, they didn’t do anything. They haven’t even bothered to talk to me. At all.”

Tom’s laugh came through the phone. “That strange text you got? Telling you to get out and which way to go.”

Greg stared at his phone. “No. There is no way that was you.”

“Oh, yeah, Greggy boy,” Tom’s voice said. “Go out the south side in five minutes. Open the door, then count to ten. Sound familiar?”

“Son of a…” Greg gaped at the tiny screen. “Fine. What do you need?”

Silence swam over the line for a long two seconds. “Bail. It should be about two grand, and I can pay you back.”

“I don’t care if you can,” Greg spat. “You’re gonna. What did you do?”

Tom stalled. “It isn’t anything serious. No robbery or violence, and nothing like what you do.” He chuckled.

“Excuse me?” Greg shifted in his chair and nearly crushed his phone. “What makes you think I would do something like that? The jobs accredited to me are high-end, and you’ll have to research this; no one got hurt.”

“I’m sorry,” Tom said. “You’re right, and that was uncalled for. Will you bail me out or what?”

“What is the charge?”

Tom’s sigh traveled over the phone. “Solicitation.”

“That’s kind of crass, don’t you think?” Greg rested his elbows on his desk. “Aren’t you married?”

“Yeah,” Tom answered. “But like all marriages, we are in a slump.”

“Right,” Greg said. “Been there. Granted, I didn’t have to pay for it.”

“Oh, really?”

“Wait,” Greg added, realizing he had let something slip. “Whatever. I’ll be there in an hour. Precinct 15?”

“Yup,” Tom answered. “Marsha doesn’t know, and she doesn’t need to.”

“Do you really think anyone will believe me?”

“No,” Tom said. “You can’t tell anyone. This stuff has a way of coming out.”

“Yeah,” Greg said. “If Sentinel finds out, you’re toast.”

“I’m not worried about that,” Tom said. “He’s here, too?”

“Seriously?”

“Yup,” Tom said. “He hasn’t noticed me yet.”

“What charge?”

“DND,” Tom answered. “Very odd.”

“I’ll say,” Greg said. “I’m not bailing him out.”

“I’m not asking you to,” Tom said. “But I have copies of things. Thanks, Greg.”

The line disconnected. Greg slipped his phone into his pocket. “This is going to be interesting.”

A Superhero

Do you know what a super-powered person is? The definition is pretty straightforward—a person with extraordinary abilities, such as the ability to fly or shoot lasers from your eyes. The list of superpowers is long but not fully documented.

Do you know who the first super-powered person was? Not just the first super-powered person, but an actual hero? I bet you are going to say Steadfast. Or, if you are well versed in history, Dauntless. However, you would be wrong.

Dauntless came into the spotlight right as World War II happened. He let the Navy know, and they tested him for nearly three years before they allowed him into combat. Once released onto the Nazis, he was, well, dauntless. When the war was over, he went to work for the government. From there, he pretty much became the first super spy. His body turned up several years later. He was stabbed through the heart with a diamond tip spear. That was the only thing that could penetrate his skin, so it was hypothesized.

Steadfast was discovered at the beginning of Vietnam. I used the word discovered, but the reality is he was created. This was the time that super soldiers were being manipulated. They would find, or recruit, a person with high-end athletic skill or some other thing and run them through a series of gene treatments. It rarely worked, but when it did, it was amazing. Amazing is a strong word. It enhanced their abilities to an extreme and added in other items.

The Squad was one of those. A group of soldiers passes through the process and lands in Vietnam. The five tore through the countryside, running rescue missions and ensuring the Americans and their allies were safe.

When the war was over, they didn’t know what to do, so they formed a super team and brought down bad guys. The problem came with their lawsuits. It took a whopping two years before they were stopped by the government. Several injunctions have kept the Squad sitting in recliners. Now, that is all they do. Three died of natural causes, the natural cause being that their bodies were mutated and couldn’t fully cope with the changes as they age. The other two are primarily vegetables, but their contract allowed the government to continue medical experimentation. It doesn’t read that way, but that is what it does.

The gene therapies used to make these super-powered were eventually passed by the FDA and into mainstream medicine. This didn’t do what you suspect; it helped cure disease and other conditions. As it stands now, medication and other forms of therapy have eradicated diseases and increased our life span. Congenital disabilities have been practically eliminated, sort of. The survival rate for cancer is close to seventy-five percent. That is any cancer. Or what the typical medical practitioner would call cancer.

So, anyway, back to my original question. Do you know who the first super-powered person was? Or, is. Yes, is. The first super-powered person is still alive. Their ability is longevity. Unless something hinders him, he can’t die. Stopping his heart would do it, and a simple knife could do it. He is immune to every known disease and affliction. His name is Horatio. My name is Horatio. Yup, we are the same. When you live for over twenty thousand years, you learn some things. The first thing I learned was to keep my mouth shut. The next thing I learned was to take notes. These lessons were separated by a few hundred years, as writing, the way most of us might understand it, didn’t exist at first.

Using my abilities, or more importantly, what I learned, I helped my tribe make simple weapons and hunt. I noted everything and kept things to myself. Eventually, I would modify things subtly, and we would make strides. In fact, my tribe had technology that others wouldn’t develop for three hundred years. The archeologists still haven’t found the evidence of my tribe. Mainly because I destroyed it. Or most of it.

Well, you might suspect by now that I was the one responsible for the gene therapy that made super soldiers. You would be wrong. That would be my sister, which is another story. So, there you go. I’m the first superhero. My sister and I are now mortal enemies. We have the same power, just different takes.

I need to be getting ready for Francine’s attack. Saving this city, and possibly the state is high on my list. Check back often.